Tip #16 - Listen—and Hear

Today’s students often are called “screenagers” because their lives are dominated by looking at screens, from the gigantic (think three-story IMAX) to the minuscule (on a mobile phone). Their sensory input is overwhelmingly visual, though an audio undercurrent often forms the backbeat. Even before modern culture became overwhelmed by electronic screens, vision was dominant among our human senses.

Visual dominance is evidenced in common language: “I see” (I understand), “I’ll see you to the door” (walk with you), “We’ll see” (maybe), and so forth. Consequently, when students are asked to write descriptions, their compositions usually are filled with visual imagery and little attention is paid to the other senses. In life, all of the senses work together, but even the next most prominent, hearing, can be neglected.

To awaken students to the auditory sense—that backbeat so often taken for granted—try this:

• Ask students to take out a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil.
• Next ask them to close their eyes and simply listen.
• Begin by guiding their hearing: “What sounds come from nearby?” “What sounds rise from beneath you, behind you, above you, to one side or the other?” “What sounds come from a distance?” “Are the sounds loud or soft, mellow or sharp?”
• Then let silence settle in the classroom so that students can listen. Stretch this for two to five minutes, depending on the group.
• Finally, ask students to open their eyes and write down as many auditory impressions as they can remember.

This exercise is a good stand-alone to create greater awareness of sensory input that can be translated into richer written descriptions, or students might immediately follow this experience by writing a “sounds of our classroom” composition that they can share.

Tip #15 - Anthologize!

Two responses to writing energize writers: getting read and getting published. Why should this be any different for students? In Tip #13, I wrote about teaching young writers to be mindful of their audience of readers—and about the importance of teachers ensuring that students’ writing gets read.

Publication is another way to validate students’ writing efforts, and classroom publications are not very difficult or time-consuming to produce. This is particularly true if students use a common word-processing program for the final copy of their manuscripts. That way, much of the publication work can be accomplished electronically. Compositions also can be shared electronically or, more traditionally, printed out and distributed or posted. For example, a dedicated bulletin board might be reserved for a rotating selection of students’ compositions that are posted for their classmates to read. Teachers might even consider providing a pad of sticky notes so that readers can post comments on their favorites. (Be sure to discuss how to give appropriate, positive feedback.)

Another class publication project is the anthology. Let’s say the assignment is an essay or a story about an animal that students have owned, admired, or come into contact with in some way. After writing, a team of student editors can organize the resulting compositions into several thematic anthologies, such as “Pets I Have Loved,” “Wild Things,” and so forth. Each anthology might include six to ten compositions, printed out and staple-bound, with covers designed by the students, too.

Sharing these anthologies within the class is one approach. But they also can be taken home to parents, placed in the school library, or even distributed on a wider scale. Such publications, whether naïve or sophisticated—depending on students’ ages and abilities—help to encourage students’ writing efforts and to make school writing more authentic.

Tip #14 - Old Theme, New Twist

Take the cliché out of the old “what I did last summer” theme by introducing students to the haiku form of poetry. Haikus work with every age group, and they offer a great way to introduce students to poetry—even those for whom the mere mention of poetry elicits a groan.

Imagine this assignment: Capture a memorable event from your summer vacation in the form of a haiku—a succinct seventeen syllables. For example:

new blue bicycle

swerve into the gravel turn

red bloody elbow

Or how about:

faces on Rushmore

sunlit granite shows each man’s

determination

Haikus originated in Japan. Traditionally, a haiku has seventeen on, or sounds. In English these are usually translated as syllables and configured in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, as in the examples above. But there’s also room for variation and innovation.

One of the most famous Japanese haiku writers was Matsuo Bashō, who lived in the 1600s. His poems often are given as examples, such as:

all day in grey rain

hollyhocks follow the sun's

invisible road

For more about haikus in English, check out the Haiku Society of America website.